What with some of the mini-games (such as the 'clock' in the parlour) not really being explained, I had hoped to get a look at them in the game guide (which is part of the CE), but had to find out that the guide belongs to another game entirely (there's s...

The Countess is the 18th entry in the Mystery Case Files series. The story starts with the disappearance of Lady Eleanor Coddington as she sought to reclaim her family estate. In your search, you come across a mysterious black mirror as well as learn about an entity simply known as the Shade.

What can you expect in this game? It is a Hidden Object Game so it comes with a combination of hidden object screens, point and click elements, and logic puzzles. One thing I did notice is that the number of hidden object screens was actually much fewer than is typical, but this is balanced by an increase in logic puzzles.

Since this is a collector's edition, you also get access to the game's soundtrack, a bonus chapter upon completing the game, and a few other goodies.

I am pleased to say that you can adjust the difficulty in the options menu, even customizing how fast hints recharge or for skipping difficult puzzles (lowest setting is 15 seconds). Even at normal settings, the game will probably take 3-4 hours at most for an average player to beat.

For those interested, the game does include Achievements, but no Steam Achievements.

So what did I think of the game? Unfortunately, I didn't like it. The story itself is as bare bones as you can get and still call it a story. For example, the game says that Eleanor is a dear friend of the detective. Considering this is the first time she's ever been in the series, you would think the game would spend at least a few minutes establishing that relationship, but doesn't.

This is just one example of what feels like a shallow game. The villain isn't particularly interesting, though it had a chance to be. I mean, a creature existing on the other side of a mirror is a cliche, but it didn't have to be dull.

This minimalistic quality is reflected in other aspects. Animations, what few there are, feel more cut and paste than any fluidity. I understand trying to keep costs down (some earlier games in the series had FMV elements, for example), but this game feels like it was done by a couple of people with a pressing time limit. Considering Mystery Case Files is a big draw for Big Fish Games, this is disappointing.

The bonus chapter might as well not be here either. Of course, most bonus chapters tend to make people feel good about the collector's edition, but in this game it honestly didn't enhance the lackluster material.

At the moment, the MCF series feels like it lost its identity. For the longest time it got overly complicated with the Delimars, as well as suffering retcons as developers were switched, etc. This game could have given it a fresh start, but instead squandered it.

The update to the game installed but when I started, I got a message that my save was corrupted and I need to start a new game. I was only 45 minutes into the game but this is still annoying, did anyone else have the same thing happen to them?

So far I have noticed that the in-game guide is not for this game, most of the sound effects are missing, the only speech I hear is during the opening video, the journal is stuck on the first page, and a few of the puzzles are missing ESSENTIAL parts so t...